Genealogy.

Genealogy is also known as family history & is the study of families & the tracing of their lineages & history. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, & other records to obtain information about a family & to demonstrate the kinship & pedigrees of its members. The results are often displayed in charts or written as narratives.

The pursuit of family history & origins tends to be shaped by several motives, including the desire to carve out a place for one's family in the larger historical picture, a sense of responsibility to preserve the past for future generations, & a sense of self-satisfaction in accurate storytelling.

My interest in my Family Tree.

My interest in Genealogy & my family tree started when I was young with the tales my dad told me about his family. I really enjoyed going to Wales & meeting family that I had never met before & listening to stories & tales of relatives both past & present. My interest was further ignited after we discovered that my grandfather on my maternal line was in fact from an Italian family, but had hidden this fact from his wife & children until he was old & in failing health.

It amazes me how addictive genealogy is & I quite often find myself spending hours & sometimes days glued to my research searching out new relatives. I have been lucky enough to discover cousins living in many different countries around the world & thanks to having my DNA tested have been able to prove links to cousins that paper records could not prove.

I was born in London in England but have grandparents of English, Welsh & Italian heritage. Therefore the sporting teams I follow are England for football, Wales for rugby & Italy when neither of the others isn't playing. This is great in international tournaments as I can normally support a team in all of the big sporting events.